


Gambling with demons

by Calliopeia



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Alternate Universe - Angels & Demons, Alternate Universe - Demons, Demons, Gen, MLB
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-30
Packaged: 2021-03-02 02:41:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,920
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23867704
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Calliopeia/pseuds/Calliopeia
Summary: Demons roam this earth, looking for souls to add to their collection. Multiple souls can be stored in one body, and the more the merrier. It is not weird to have multiple demons after the same person, competing to be the one to get their souls.And as it turns out, more than one demon is interested in Marinette Dupain-Cheng's collection of souls. But between trying to gain her attention while also keeping her away from danger and angels (those words should be synonyms), the demons may have gotten too much in their hands to handle.
Relationships: Adrien Agreste | Chat Noir/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Luka Couffaine/Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug, Marinette Dupain-Cheng | Ladybug/Félix Graham de Vanily, felinette
Comments: 3
Kudos: 65





	1. Chapter 1

My kind have roamed the Earth for centuries. We walk alongside humans, taking their skins, their eyes. We speak and laugh like them, but sometimes, if you stare long enough you’ll notice some differences. Like how are skin doesn’t shine, not even under direct sun. It’s as if you took a paper drawing and gave it life. Opaque, always looking like dead. Or how our eyes don’t really have any color in them. Yesterday they were blue, today they are brown. And if you try to remember their color, you won’t know.

“I guess I never payed attention to that”; you’ll say. But you have. You have become entranced by our eyes, how the color seems to change under the light. Or was it under the shadow? You could stay hours staring right at our eyes, but the moment we are gone you won’t remember them at all.

And maybe you have noticed how our voice doesn’t sound like our own. Sometimes high, sometimes down. But it isn’t ours, and you’ll know that from the small mistakes we may make. Like talking with two or three voices at the same time, or a voice that sounded exactly like your partner’s. But you’ll brush your doubts aside, because, who even pays attention to someone’s voice? Not you, not humans.

We do.

It’s all we do, all day. We love noticing those smaller details, how the light reflects the golden tones of your hair, how your nose scrunches up just milimeters whenever you smile. We study them and analyze them, making sure not to confuse your micro gestures with others form someone else. For us, humans are all special and different. Each of them has a small carpet with all their characteristics. You could say that we know you enough to impersonate you.

And you would be correct.

You see, my kind does not have bodies of our own. Or well, we do, but not the kind of bodies you are used to seeing. They are not physical, you cannot touch us or see us. Sometimes you hear us in the middle of the woods, sometimes you can feel us when the wind brushes your skin.

As I’ve said, we love humans. Sometimes, our love is too much that it becomes obsessive. The sickening kind of love that doesn’t let you sleep or eat or live. Fortunately, we really don’t do any of those things. We live for humans, but sometimes, it gets a little too boring for us. Sometimes not being seen is not alright. We want to be seen, especially by you.

So, we make deals. Deals with the dead, deals with the living. Soon enough, we have enough deals to make a body of our own.

Do you believe in reincarnation? If you do, then you are smarter than you think. Your soul isn’t made of the life of only one being, but of multiples. There may be over 50 or a 100 lives inside of you. There may be onlty two or three. Right now, there are no new souls. Everyone is sharing the space with another one.

Your souls are what binds your body together. But for us, who have no soul, we need to collect them manually. We need to have a minimum of 300 souls to have a physical body, to be able to pass as one of you, even if we never get to be you. And to get those souls, we make deals with you. It’s not as if it affects you, you already have way too many lives inside of you. Losing one won’t kill you.

That is, until you are truly dead. Then we take all of your past lives and make it our own. The first soul you give us, the only one while you live, is like an engagement. A promise ring. It confirms that the rest of you will also belong to us once you die.

It isn’t that hard to get 300 souls. All we have to do is search for the oldest, the ones who have more souls inside their bodies. You might even get 200 souls from one single life. Which is why the ones with more souls are also the ones most followed by my kind.

You may not notice it, but maybe there are two or three of us after you right now. Hoping to be the first one to convince you to give them your souls.

If you ask me, competing with another one of us for souls is horrible. It’s a never ending battle, until it ends. And then the loser has nothing left to do except look for another human to lust after.

You see? Being us and making deals is not that easy.

It certainly isn’t easy when you are hunting down one of the oldest group of souls. And they come packaged in the form of a teenager. Teenagers are the worst to make deals with. They are sarcastic and have a strange will to die, although sometimes it’s only a joke. It’s difficult to tell when they are joking. This one jokes way too much.

But I am getting ahead of myself.

First I need to explain how we are able to make deals if you can’t see us.

Well, the closer we are to the 300 souls, the easier it is to take a human like form. It can’t be for long, just for some hours at a time, but it is usually enough to allow the humans to trust us and make the deal. If we are still young and barely starting, then you’ll go after the dead, the ones who no one wanted. They are usually also young clusters of souls.

So, as I am sure you have started to understand, an old demon like me is able to take human form enough time to make the target trust me, even talk to me. I have over 250 souls, and all I need is 50 more to become human-like 24/7.

It just happens to be that my target has 70 souls inside of her. There’s even some to spare, in case there’s a problem in the deal. She’s perfect.

Or at least she would be, if she payed more attention to me instead of making oogly eyes at freaking Adrien Agreste.

“Marinette?”

The girl stopped her increasingly alarming staring at the blonde boy and finally separated her eyes and looked at me instead. She went full on tomato red, probably because of the way she had been caught.

“I! I wasn’t- I wasn’t staring, you know? Who would even do that? That’s crazy!”, she blabbered with no end. For God’s sake, couldn’t she calm down? All I wanted was one thing and one thing only: to make her trust me enough to give me her souls. Is that too hard?

I feigned a small laugh, just enough to make her calm down. Her shoulders relaxed and slowly, her face lost all that extra blood on her cheeks. Good.

“All I wanted to ask is for you to explain me this problem”, I said with as much of a smile as I could muster. It had been a long time since I had actually had to do any ground work like this. On the past, all I needed to do was go near philosophers, offer them the answer to their problems and they would sign before I said the price.

Oh, how I miss the old days of Ancient Greece and the Illustration.

“Sure!”, she answered cheerfully. “What do you need help with?”

“I just can’t understand how to write the function’s equation. I mean, what do I do about the descending intervals?”

“Uhm, well, you first need to-“

Marinette was a good student. Not a good teacher, not at all. I knew how to solve that problem, but she wasn’t explaining how to do it the easy way. And she was doing it correctly, with some small mistakes here and there which honestly, wouldn’t affect the result at all. Whoever said that maths were always exact, was a liar.

I think I knew who did it. I may have his soul somewhere inside of me.

“And then you multiply the signs and write the result”

“Thank you Mari! I really appreciate what you have been doing for me”

“Not a problem at all, Felix”

“I know we are almost strangers, but do you think we could meet this afternoon? I think I really need a good tutor to catch up to the rest of the class”

“Forget strangers, I would gladly help you. What if you come to my house after school ends?”

I almost wanted to grab her by the shoulders and shake her multiple times. The girl was really, really over explotating herself. If I remembered correctly, she still had a project from Madame Mendeleiev to finish (a team project, but the team was too busy to help). Adding to that, she also needed to finish a commission from one of her friends. At least they were paying her, because if she had been doing it for free I would throw hands. And finally, she also needed to help her parents with the bakery. Why couldn’t they just hire a employee? Well, economy was rough.

But I wasn’t there to be nice and say no, say that she was probably too busy already. I was there to gladly accept and make her my friend, maybe even make her have a tiny crush on me. And then, when she least expected it, I would offer her the deal. And she would accept, we would part ways and we would live happily ever after. At least I would.

“Sure! Thanks Mari”

Almost inmediately, Mari started talking about freaking Adrien Agreste and why he was so awesome. As boys, we probably would get along right? Oh, Mari hoped so, because the boy really needed more friends. He was a model, didn’t I know? And his father was Gabriel Agreste, one of the most important fashion designers!

And she would go on and on and on with no end. What I do for a real body, you humans should really start valuing your bodies more.

I was counting down the minutes until the end of class, when, out of nowhere, an enormous plant broke in the window and started taking screaming students out of the class. Gee, an akuma, what a surprise.

I hated akumas. Not because of the destruction, but what it meant for me and Marinette.

Because on top of being the perfect daughter, friend, student, and designer, she also needed to be the perfect hero.

Mari ran out of the classroom, probably looking for a place to transform. Meanwhile, I willingfully allowed one of the plants to take me. If I had lost my study session with Mari, then at least I would get a bit of “saving the damsel in distress” with Ladybug.

This is why I hate teenagers. Couldn’t they have more relaxed lives?


	2. Chapter 2

The vines wrapped around my waist and pulled me outside the already broken window. Other vines also held to more students. Between them, was the reporter girl and the princessy one. They were trying to fight against the force of the vines, but there was no use to it. If only they just allowed themselves to be taken, it wouldn’t be as hard.

The vines were full of thorns, my torso was starting to feel pain wherever the thornes directly touched it. That was weird. I knew humans could feel pain, I had watched them react to it for many years. But to be the one feeling it, that was new. I wondered if pain would feel different in a real, human body than what I was feeling.

Sometimes, when I was under the human appearance, I didn’t feel like me. It was like watching someone else move for me, talk for me, and just exist for me. Like watching a movie, but the protagonist was wearing my body. Pain was one of those things that I couldn’t feel for myself. I needed to see other people suffer through it, just like the reporter and the princess were doing at the moment. By seeing them, I could tell what sort of pain was supposed to be happening. And my body reacted to it, even though I didn’t consciusly do it.

The vines brought us to the Eiffel Tower. Why was it that every single akuma decided to make the Eiffel Tower their base? It didn’t make any sense. If you know your enemy is good at fighting in tall places and has a freaking yoyo to pull herself upwards, a tower is the last place you want to go. If I was them, I would go to ground level, maybe even underground. Take away any place she can pull herself to, and boom. You just incapacitated the enemy.

Akumas, as it may already be obvious, aren’t that smart.

The Eiffel Tower was wrapped in, you guessed it, more vines. It was like a plant sculpture. On top of the tower, the Akuma stood. They were completely green, and had vines surrounding them, forming an armor. Even from a distance I could tell they had a small cluster of souls. Maybe 4, 7 tops. Not a good target.

The vines of the Eiffel Tower had little red roses in them. Little from the distance, but the roses got bigger as we approached them. And on top of the roses, civilians slept, caged by the petals. They looked almost calm, as if they were peacefully dreaming. Some of them even wore smiles on their faces.

The Akuma lowered themselves to tend each rose. It caressed the roses, and the humans inside, as if they were little babies. As more civilians got dragged to the tower, more roses bloomed.

The reporter started shouting at the Akuma. Something about how they weren’t going to get away with it, and that Ladybug and Chat Noir were going to kick their asses at any moment. The Akuma giggled as a response. They ordered the vines to bring the three of us closer to them. Under us, three red roses started blooming.

“You are an energetic one”, they said in a motherly tone. They put a hand on top of the reporter’s hair and started petting her, as if that would get her to close her mouth.

“Don’t touch me!”, the reporter screamed, pulling her head to the side. “Once Ladybug gets here, she’s going to defeat you, Hawkmoth!”

Ah, yes. Hawkmoth. The one behind all the Akumas. If you asked me my opinion, the guy was an idiot. For starters, he made use of young people with no sort of influence or power. Hawkmoth also had th ebad habit of giving his Akumas the most horrible outfits, making it instantly obvious that they are an Akuma. If I was Hawkmoth, I would make their clothes and appearances a bit less obvious. Just a tiny bit, enough so that they don’t get recognized as an Akuma at first glance.

But don’t mind me, I am just a demon allowing himself to be caught by the stupidest of all villains. What I do for Marinette and her souls.

The Akuma, enraged by the reporter’s response, dragged their long red nails through her cheek. Some droplets of blood fell.

Time to act, I guessed.

The reporter screamed. I screamed back. The princess had little tears forming in her eyes. I started crying too. I may not be a human, but damn it if I am not a good actor. Move aside Leonardo Dicaprio, I am the one who deserves an Oscar.

And the Oscar just flew by dressed in a red suit and polka dots.

Game time.

The Akuma blew made a gesture with their hand, ordering the vines to drop us onto the roses. The fall was only three meters high, but it still got a cry out of the princess. I controlled every urge in my body to not roll my eyes.

The reporter tried shouting something else at the akuma, but the rose’s smell was already starting to get to her. She yawned, and so did the princess.

The unnatural nature of my body, made me more resistant to the smell than the two girls. While they were already falling asleep, I was barely starting to register the drowsiness.

It seemed as if the Akuma hadn’t yet noticed Ladybug, who was perched on top of a nearby building, talking to her yoyo. She and the cat were probably starting ot formulate a plan to get near the Akuma without being noticed by the vines.

From watching Ladybug closely for a long time, I learned a valuable lesson: she saves civilians, but not people. All the civilians trapped in the roses were just strangers she had to save. The exceptions being her class members and her parents. If you didn’t belong to one of those selective groups, then she wouldn’t directly save you until she performed the Miraculous Cure.

But, if you were a member of her class, she was already going to notice you more than the others. The problem with that was that, although I was in her class and her deskmate, we had only known each other for a day. Ladybug would choose to save the reporter or the princess over me any day.

I couldn’t risk it with just being in her class. I needed another way to get her attention.

Cue to the more special, but difficult group. The “wanna be heroes”. All the civilians or classmates who stood up to the Akuma and helped her with her plan. That was a method that guaranteed Ladybug would remember you. And if Ladybug rememberedd you, Marinette would care more for you.

Time to be a hero.

“Hey!”, I shouted at the Akuma. Even though the roses were starting to get to me, I forced myself to stay awake. I needed to help Ladybug, and at the moment, the best way was to distract the Akuma.

The Akuma raised their eyebrow at me, surprised by how I was still awake. They lowered themselves to get closer to me, and just as they had done to the reporter, they started petting me with a hand.

“Yes, my child?”

Child? The civilian under the Akuma was definetely a mother, or someone with mommy issues.

“I know you are busy with taking care of your… uh, roses, but I need your help”

I allowed them to keep petting me. I had seen from the reporter the consequences of not playing along with the Akuma, and I couldn’t risk to lose this opportunity.

“What is it that you need help with, dear?”

From the corner of my eye, I could see Ladybug smiling at me. The cat had just arrived, and she was already giving him instructions. Noticing my stare, she nodded at me before pulling herself to another building, followed closely by the cat.

“I don’t know where’s my mother”, I said taking a leap of faith.

If the akuma was a mother, she would jump at the opportunity to help a lost child, however old that child may be. If it was mommy issues, on the other hand, she would get mad at me for needing my mother. I hoped it was the first case.

“Your mother?”, the Akuma hissed. “Why would you need your mother! I am already here for you, my child. Forget about her!”. The vines around me started swirling nervously, reacting to the Akuma’s anger.

Mommy issues it was.

“No!”, I interrupted her. “I need to know where she is. I haven’t seen her in the roses, and I would go crazy if she saved herself from this one”

“Saved herself?”

The vines slowly started to calm down.

“Yes”, I gulped. “Once we knew there was an Akuma, we started running. But a vine came to us and was trying to grab her. My mother gave me to the vine instead to save herself”

The Akuma growled. Right behind her, on top of the cat’s baton, Ladybug tried to maintain her balance while the baton extended itself to the Akuma, avoiding the nearby vines. One hand was on her yoyo, while the other gestures me to keep talking.

“I… I don’t want her to go unpunished! I am her son, how could she put herself before me?”, I said, trying to sound as hurt as possible.

The Akuma nodded.

“I promise she won’t, my child. How does she look like? I will send my vines to search for her”

Ladybug’s hands were some centimeters away from the Akuma’s neck, which was covered by a necklace of roses. That must be were the damn butterfly was hiding.

“She has blonde hair, but it is cut likke bob. She was wearing a blueish suit, and she had a necklace”

“A necklace?”

“Yes, a rose necklace”

The Akuma’s eyes went wide as they turned around, but it was already too late. Ladybug already had the necklace on her hands.

“No!”

She tore the necklace, freeing the butterfly. In a swift movement, she caught the butterfly with her yoyo and purified it. The Akuma changed into a young woman, probably a university student. As the Akuma changed, the vines started dissolving and the roses became smaller and smaller. The citizens on top of them were still sleeping.

The rose I was stepping on became small enough so that I had to stand with only one foot, trying to maintain my balance. Ladybug casted her Cure, and just like that, the vines and roses were gone. Small ladybugs started lowrering the civilians who were starting to wake up.

I didn’t get any small ladybug.

The rose disappeared and, just like that, I was falling to the ground. Ladybug extended her yoyo towards me and caught me by the feet.

“Hang in there!”, she shouted as she slowly lowered me to the ground.

Once safe, she let go of me and jumped to my side. The cat was by her side, trying to get his baton to the usual size and failing miserably. Her ears made a single _beep._ I knew that meant she needed to go soon, but Ladybug didn’t inmediately leave.

“What you did today was dangerous”, she complained. Another beep, and she smiled. “But it was also very brave. Thank you in behalf of Paris and us”

“It was a pleasure”

Ladybug nodded and pulled herself to one of the nearby alleys. The cat didn’t leave with her. Instead, he stayed some meters away from me and stared. His eyebrows furrowed and he huffed before leaving too.

I really didn’t like that cat.

Happy with my success, I left the tower and walked to an abandoned building. There, once I made sure there was no one nearby, I allowed myself to let go of the fake body. As if it was made of dust, the body disintegrated, the ashes carried by the wind.

I had stayed too long in the body for the day, and I needed a rest. Thankfully, inside the building, there was no one to pester me while I regained energy.

As I allowed my concience to drift off, I couldn’t stop thinking about the stupid cat.

I was sure I had seen that face somewhere else, centuries ago.

I just needed to remember who it belonged to.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A song I was listening to while writing: Frank Ocean, by Call Me Karizma

**Author's Note:**

> A song I was listening to while writing: Harold Bloom, by Cold War Kids.


End file.
